Brown speaks out for English

Gordon Brown will today spearhead his trip to China and India by announcing a radical plan to promote the English language across the world.

The prime minister has set up a new learning, teaching and training website to help 2 billion people learn English by 2020.

In a message recorded especially for international students, teachers and educational establishments, Brown said: "In total, 2 billion people worldwide will be learning English by 2020. But there are millions more on every continent who are still denied the chance to learn English.

"So today I want Britain to make a new gift to the world: a commitment to help anyone - however impoverished and however far away - to access the tools they need to learn English."

The website will establish networks between teachers and students throughout the globe and enable one-to-one tuition between people anywhere in the world, the PM said.

The British Council will also start a programme in India to recruit "master trainers" charged with developing the skills of 750,000 teachers of English over a five-year period.

Brown was today flying to China for his first visit to the economic powerhouse since taking over at No 10.

His five-day visit will also take in India, another burgeoning economy, on his most far-flung diplomatic mission since he became prime minister.

In an article on the Downing Street website about the English language initiative, Brown said: "I believe that, with the right help, we will have a situation by 2025 where the number of English speakers in China exceeds the number of speakers of English as a first language in all of the rest of the world."

He pointed out that there are already 350m English-speakers in India and another 300m in China, "with more children learning English in Chinese schools than in British schools".

The Chinese government has now made it a requirement for English to be taught in schools to all youngsters from the age of six.

In his article, Brown said: "The English language, like football and other sports, began here and has spread to every corner of the globe.

"Today more than a billion people speak English, one-third of humanity.

"It is becoming the world's language - the language of the internet, of business, of international flight and the pathway of global communication and global access to knowledge."

But the prime minister stressed: "English does not make us all the same - nor should it, for we honour who we distinctly are.

"But it makes it possible for us to speak to each other, to better understand each other and so it is a powerful force not just for economics, business and trade but for mutual respect and progress."

Brown's spokesman pointed out that the education sector was an increasingly important part of the UK's export economy, worth around £28bn worth in exports.

Trade, the environment and international issues will dominate Brown's talks with the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabo, and the country's president, Hu Jintao.

The prime minister's spokesman said Brown would also raise human rights is, saying: "He will raise the general concerns surrounding human rights."

Brown will also want to hear firsthand of preparations for this year's Beijing Olympics, with London due to host the games in 2012.

The prime minister will be accompanied by a clutch of leading businessmen and other ministers including the business secretary, John Hutton, and the trade minister, Lord Digby Jones.